The present invention relates generally to fuel tanks for vehicles and, more particularly, to a fuel strainer assembly for a fuel tank of a vehicle.
It is known to provide a fuel tank for a fuel system in a vehicle to hold fuel to be used by an engine of the vehicle. It is also known to provide an electric fuel pump in the fuel tank to pump fuel from the fuel tank to the engine. In-tank electric fuel pumps typically require a filter to remove particular contaminants from the fuel prior to entering the fuel pump. This pre-filtration is commonly accomplished by connecting a fuel strainer assembly to an inlet of the fuel pump. This connection interface must secure the mating parts for the life of the fuel pump.
One known connection is a press fit connection between an outside diameter of a snout extending from an inlet body of the fuel pump and an inside diameter of a connector body integral to the fuel strainer assembly. Another known connection secures the fuel strainer assembly to the inlet of the fuel pump using a post extending from the inlet body and a pal nut fastener to retain the fuel strainer assembly. However, both of these connections require a feature to be added to the inlet body (i.e., a snout or a post) of the fuel pump. As a result, these features add unnecessary complexity to the inlet body of the fuel pump and are not production feasible for a manufacturing process (i.e. compression molding).
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a new fuel strainer assembly for a fuel tank in a vehicle that has a connection to attach a fuel strainer to an inlet of the fuel pump. It is also desirable to provide a fuel strainer assembly for a fuel tank in a vehicle that eliminates additional parts for connection of the fuel strainer to the inlet of the fuel pump. It is further desirable to provide a fuel strainer assembly for a fuel tank in a vehicle that provides orientation and anti-rotation of the fuel strainer relative to the inlet of the fuel pump.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a fuel strainer assembly for a fuel tank in a vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fuel strainer assembly for a fuel tank in a vehicle that connects a fuel strainer to an inlet of a fuel pump without adding additional parts.
To achieve the foregoing objects, the present invention is a fuel strainer assembly including a filtration member and an inlet connector connected to the filtration member for connection to an inlet of a fuel pump. The fuel strainer assembly also includes a locking mechanism operatively supported by the inlet connector to operatively engage a shell of the fuel pump to secure the inlet connector to the fuel pump.
One advantage of the present invention is that a new fuel strainer assembly is provided for a fuel tank in a vehicle. Another advantage of the present invention is that the fuel strainer assembly allows contaminant wear resistant materials to be compression molded. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the fuel strainer assembly allows a fuel strainer to be attached to a fuel pump without the addition of extra features to an inlet body of the fuel pump and eliminates additional parts like a pal nut or retainer. Still another advantage of the present invention is that the fuel strainer assembly provides a mechanism for radial orientation and anti-rotation because the location of the fuel strainer is controlled by the components and not the assembly tooling.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood, after reading the subsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.